Legend In His Own Mind

People

August 20, 1985

Legendary rock `n` roller Chuck Berry kicks off the ``Legend of Music`` series Friday at the Opera House in Boston, but he doesn`t want any TV cameras to record the event. ``If any TV crews show up, I`ll walk off the stage,`` said the man whose songs have been recorded by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. ``I`m a legend and I don`t need any more press.``

ELLA FITZGERALD OUT OF HOSPITAL

Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald was released from George Washington University Hospital Monday after a week of treatment for an apparent respiratory problem. ``She`s fine now and her spirits are high,`` said hospital spokeswoman Ellen Pollock. Fitzgerald`s road manager, Pete Cavello, said the 67-year-old singer would return from Washington, D.C., to her California home for a five- week vacation before resuming her performance schedule at the Hollywood Bowl in late September. Fitzgerald, who was taken to the hospital by ambulance late on the night of Aug. 4 complaining of breathing difficulty, missed two performances during her hospital stay.

PAUL NEWMAN REVVING UP

Actor and auto racer Paul Newman, who has been forced out of two recent races by mechanical problems, says he`s hoping for better luck at his next race Sunday in Watkins Glen, N.Y. ``Being a fast course should be a benefit for our car. We`d really like to win this one -- we`ve come so close in our last two,`` Newman said in a news release. Newman set track records to win the favored pole position at the Road America and Lime Rock Trans-Am events, but left both races because of mechanical trouble.

BROWN SUITS COME OUT OF THE CLOSET

Ronald Reagan has done something no other president can claim: he has brought respectability to the brown suit. John Molloy, author of Dress For Success, told Success magazine that Reagan ``changed the direction of fashion`` in the business world. Ten years ago, anyone who wore a brown suit in the Northeast was considered ``a hick and a hayseed,`` he said. Today, he says, the same brown suit, if finely tailored, is appropriate for any business meeting and could be more effective than its blue or gray counterpart. ``And that`s primarily because Ronald Reagan wears brown suits on important occasions,`` he said.

SHEIK`S GREEN MANSION RAZED AS NEIGHBORS CHEER

A Beverly Hills mansion that once created a furor when an Arab sheik painted it pea green and decorated it with garish nude statues was razed Monday as neighbors toasted the demolition with champagne. Sheik Mohammed al- Fassi, who gained notoriety in South Florida for failing to pay a $1.4 million tab at Hollywood`s Diplomat Hotel in 1982, rocked staid Beverly Hills when he purchased the 38-room mansion in 1978. It was gutted by fire five years ago and has been in disrepair ever since. The flamboyant Saudi sheik lost title to the property in 1983 as part of a $81.5 million divorce settlement.

ERIK ESTRADA WEDS IN ROME

Erik Estrada, the rugged leading man from the TV show CHiPs, tied the knot with actress Peggy Rowe at a church service Monday in Rome. Estrada, 35, is planning to take a few days off from work for a honeymoon with his 29-year-old wife.